Idol career! Starting! [Esperia | Saga]

Tap, tap, tap.

The soft sound of a hand tapping against the surface of a desk resounded in his office as Kyouhei Kamenashi was watching the recording of the recent performance of the rehearsals for the POPUP unit. It was not bad, far from it. The younglings were improving every day, but he felt something was lacking. Something that was difficult to express in mere words. If it was something to be described, he would have said that there was something missing, a key element that would allow the girls to truly shine. Shifting slightly in his seat he observed the individual choreography and singing of each individual member and after a while, he raised his hand to his chin. "What is it that they need to truly shine..." The man mumbled under his breath when a knock on the door pulled his thoughts back to reality. "Yes?" The door opened, showing a young woman in a business suit stepping inside the room.

"It's like you expected Kyouhei-kun, Ms Hirano and her daughter are here to meet you." Kyouhei merely smiled, rising out of his seat and stretched his arms into the air. "Guess we shouldn't let the fair ladies wait then~" However, as he walked toward the door his colleague addressed him, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Are you sure about this Kyouhei-kun? Surely you know how borderline impossible this idea of yours is? Disregarding the rumors of the fact that person is vouched for by the legendary Kaito-sama himself, we already got declined when asking to have 'that person' come onboard as POPUP's songwriter."

Kamenashi Kyouhei stopped in his tracks, a knowing smile on his lips. "Indeed, we failed to convince her. On the other hand, Honey might be inexperienced, but she clearly has a talent for this. Song, dance, but she is lacking something. But she clearly loves music, and I think that is where she will succeed where we fail. Only those who show their emotions through dance and song can truly understand one another. Heh, at least that sounds like something Kaito would say."

Sighing in dejection the woman muttered something in amusement as she left his office, giving him the opportunity to wander toward the reception where Honey and her mother were waiting. "Aha~ Miss Hirano, and the star of the show herself, how you been Honey?" He smiled gently at the child while giving a light courtesy bow toward her mother. "Please follow me, we can talk more in my office."

As the three of them made their way along the corridors of the agency the man chimed softly. "So how have you been doing lately Honey? Have you been able to keep up with the schedule? The act of combining school life and a idol's career is very tricky, it is part of why school idols are such a rarity nowadays. Then again, you certainly have energy left to spare~" A chuckle following his lips they arrived at the office and he gestured toward the seats in front of his desk. "Please take a seat~"

Kyouhei positively beamed at Honey, a regular ray of sunshine this one. It was that ferociously free spirit that he was counting on. He chuckled when she jumped up and down, savoring that youthful vigor. It wasn't often you found a young lady like her: untainted by the stiff rules of living in the industry. He glanced up at Honey's mother when she gripped the young girl's shoulder. Not for lack of trying, he thought as he turned toward the door and made his way back into his office. His desk was pristine despite his usual disorganized personality. His secretary had been absolutely cross with him for having not done it sooner.

He slipped into his own chair, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the surface, his eyes fixed on Honey while she spoke. He nodded at the right points and glanced at Miss Hirano at others. There was nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about perfecting her skills as a young idol, but she couldn't throw herself at it so much that she neglected the other important things in her life. School was very important too, and he'd seen far too many young idols, uneducated, make very poor life decisions and ruin themselves in the long run.

Regardless of his own opinions, he could see she had the enthusiasm and energy for it all. He lingered for a moment or two; letting the thoughts hang in the air. "Education is very important, to me in particular young lady~" He said, leaning back and resting his hands in his lap. He crossed and uncrossed his legs while he thought. She was special, that much was certain, could she be what he was missing? Seiki and Aika were both intense personalities, but the tomboy and the temperamental one needed innocent energy to balance them out. Each of them were star material but they had to start somewhere.

He clasped his hands together and broke into a wide, eager smile; "I've seen a lot of auditions, Honey~ Amazing young ladies have come in to show their stuff. It had been really hard to decide, I've seen what you can do, but why don't you tell me. What are your strengths?" He asked, his fingers tapping gently against the table with a tap tap tap. He reached up to straighten his tie a little and ease a bit more comfortably into his chair.

Mister Kyouhei steepled his fingers, leaning back in his chair and resting his elbows on the armrests. He was a man in a position of power, but he was also doing it all for show. He'd made his decision a long while back, but she did not need to know that; now did she? He stared for several heartbeats at Honey, looking up at her helicopter of a mother and letting out a short breath through his nostrils. She was confident, very confident, and if that wasn't amusing enough, she had this air about her that just screamed for others to focus on her. Was it her playful, almost neurotic energy? He couldn't really put his finger on it, but he knew that with enough time she'd be able to hone that energy into something more than just productive. 

Either way, he'd teased for long enough. Grinning ear to ear he lowered his hands and leaned forward. "Well, I do hope we become the best of friends while we work together, Honey," He said, glancing up at her mother and putting his fingers on the document that he had waiting for her on the desk. "The final contract," He added, pushing the document toward her while he got to his feet and straightened his coat. "Congratulations young lady! I cannot wait to introduce you to your new partners! They're dying to meet the third member of their troupe; and you just *have* to meet our choreographer, she's one of the best." He said eagerly, rambling on about things while he worked his way out from behind his desk and started toward the door. Business was okay, he supposed, but his passion was creating art. These girls were his brushes, and he was going to create something special with the help of Honey.

"Would you like to go on a little tour with me?" He asked, beaming at her.

The girl was obviously oblivious to the nitty-gritty details of the deal. Miss Hirano, on the other hand, was laser-focused on the document as soon as it was handed to her. Within moments she had zeroed in on the most crucial detail. What position he was going to be offering Honey to start out. He'd already picked the centre, Aika was positively incredible; though she had her own personality quirks. It was his hope that with Honey there providing some genuine positivity that maybe it might rub off on Aika and that rough personality of hers. He rubbed his chin, he could only hope. Regardless; dear Honey was already enthused just for the opportunity to participate. That, he thought, was a better quality than any other.

Appreciation.

He rubbed his hands together and nodded to the door. "Shall we?" He said, walking her out the door and into the hall. The building itself was smaller than most studios of it's kind, with two floors beneath street level dedicated to other rooms it had originally been some manner of laboratory or something-Kyouhei didn't sweat the details-and it had been remodeled into the magnificent place of learning they saw before them. The upper level of the building was dedicated entirely to offices for himself and his staff; one level below that were the main practice areas. Large shiny wooden floors waxed to a perfect shine. One floor lower was the lobby, filled to the brim with trophies of success and memories. A small set of vending machines also were situated in the lobby well within sight of the front desk.

Down below was a training room for physical fitness as well as a small classroom to study the more involved parts of being an actor or actress in this day and age. The deepest level was mostly just storage. He finished the tour by gesturing to one of the large metal closets down below. "Our practice costumes are in there, of course you'll be fitted for just the right number when the time comes; dear~" he said, delightedly, "Ohhh! I cannot wait to introduce you to your new friends!" he cheered.

Kyouhei glanced back at the little girl; his eyes so filled with excitement over the prospect of at last finding the third person for his trio that he paid no mind to her small gaffe. He placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward a little to hear her properly. So she was concerned about her tail? That was understandable. He glanced over at a few of the people working in the costume room, one of them was a woman with short hair and unbelievably delicate looking fingers. She waved once, going back to whatever she was going behind a small half-wall. He nodded at her. "That's Miss Takaharu; you'll get to know her, she's a master seamstress and my sister-in-law," He said, winking. "If anyone can make thing work for you and that tail of yours; it's her," He insisted. Standing up straight. "I wouldn't have brought you on if I didn't think we could handle it~"

He cheerily walked through the remainder of the costume room, going around to the next set of rooms. A trio of rooms, two of them with names emblazoned on little plaques and one of them blank at the end of the hall. He lead her to the blank door and touched the handle; "Now. This is the most exciting part..." He opened up into an empty dressing room, just begging to be decorated. "...this is yours, Honey."

Kyouhei put his hands in his pockets and watched young Honey climb the chair and admire her surroundings. This, in some small way, was what a large part of this was about. It was making dreams come true. He had his own dreams he wanted to achieve; and he achieved them through performers like Honey. Honey had dreams of her own and she achieved them by working hard with him. It was a symbiotic relationship; in it's own strange way. He glanced over at Honey's mother, the woman was unbelievably terse. He scratched the back of his head and tugged a little on the thin goatee that stuck out from his chin; glancing toward one of the chairs.

"How about we do a little make-up orientation?" He asked hesitantly; nodding to the chair. "I'll have my crew come in and get familiar with you, Miss Hirano you can join your daughter too; our treat," He kept the 'to help you relax a little' out of his pitch. He just wanted her to stop eyeing everything as if it was something to be torn apart and analyzed. Honey had made it this far which was plenty far all told. He examined the chair that Honey was about to sit in; "We'll have to make some modifications for your tail, shouldn't be too hard. But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about it; be proud about it!" He added, putting his hands on his hips.